Demand in New Zealand hospitals: expect the unexpected?

aut.conference.typePaper Published in Proceedings
aut.researcherPacheco, Gail Anne
dc.contributor.authorJiang, N
dc.contributor.authorPacheco, GA
dc.date.accessioned2013-09-17T03:30:05Z
dc.date.accessioned2013-09-17T03:30:15Z
dc.date.available2013-09-17T03:30:05Z
dc.date.available2013-09-17T03:30:15Z
dc.date.copyright2013-07-04
dc.date.issued2013-07-04
dc.description.abstractThe health care sector in New Zealand has undergone substantial structural reform since 1983, and stands out relative to other OECD countries, in that it has a relatively low per capita health expenditure, and a high share of public funding. Efficient allocation of resources to accommodate local needs in this community-oriented and public dominant model of the health care system is paramount. This paper employs the National Minimum Dataset from 2007 to 2011 to construct an empirical model aimed at predicting hospital demand. We formulate an easy to implement approach that can be used at the national level, as well as for individual District Health Boards (DHBs) that are regionally defined, and can also be disaggregated by category of patient, e.g. acute care versus elective admissions. We find the use of lagged information in this model to be vital, and by contrasting expected and actual demand, we then evaluate variations in excess demand. We find evidence that suggests in low risk elective cases, unexpected demand significantly reduces an individual’s hospital stay, and increases the likelihood of acute readmission in 30 days. Additionally, the cumulative evidence presented points to excess demand at both the hospital level and within-disease chapter, resulting in more attention paid to high risk patients, to the detriment of low risk cases. The negatively and significant association between hospital stay and readmission in 30 days for low risk cases may prompt policy makers to consider a ‘reduction in readmission program’ for New Zealand.
dc.identifier.citation54th New Zealand Association of Economists held at Amora Hotel, Wellington, New Zealand, 2013-07-03 to 2013-07-05
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10292/5679
dc.publisherNew Zealand Association of Economists
dc.relation.replaceshttp://hdl.handle.net/10292/5678
dc.relation.replaces10292/5678
dc.relation.urihttp://www.on-cue.co.nz/NZAE%20Conference%20Programme%202013.pdf
dc.rightsNOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in (see Citation). The original publication is available at (see Publisher's Version).
dc.rights.accessrightsOpenAccess
dc.subjectHospital demand
dc.subjectEmergency readmission
dc.subjectLength of hospital stay
dc.subjectIn-hospital death
dc.subjectHospital staffing
dc.titleDemand in New Zealand hospitals: expect the unexpected?
dc.typeConference Contribution
pubs.elements-id153579
pubs.organisational-data/AUT
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/Business & Law
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/Business & Law/Economics
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/Business & Law/Economics/Economics PBRF 2012
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/Business & Law/NZWRI - NZ Work Research Institute
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